Voters boot veterans off ed boards

A few Hudson County school board veterans were apparently
sent packing yesterday as voters - despite tough economic
times - approved four of seven school tax levies up for
adoption.

Hoboken's Kids First Slate - comprised of board
incumbent Theresa Minutillo and newcomers Ruth McAllister
and Maureen Sullivan - swept to victory. Three defeated
candidates included longtime board member Frank Raia, who
this year toyed with the idea of running for mayor.

With 92.3 percent of the vote counted in Jersey City, it
appeared former mayor and current board member Anthony Cucci
was heading out the classroom. Booted from the teachers
union slate, Cucci trailed union-backed Patricia Sebron
1,686 to 1,861 for the third of three school board slots.

Comfortably winning in Jersey City were current board
chair William DeRosa and Sean Connors, a newcomer. Connors
led the 11-candidate field with nearly 3,000 votes, or 21
percent of the vote.

In Kearny, voters returned only one incumbent to office:
Lisa Ann Schlago. Two other board members, Rosemary
Martins-Marks and Jean C. McKeown, lost, according to the
Hudson County Clerk's Office.

North Bergen returned all three of its incumbents to
office - Maureen Luzzi, Julio Marenco and Ruth Shaw.

In Secaucus, no incumbent ran for re-election. Gary
Riebesell joined Thomas Troyer and Charles Krajewski in the
winners' circle.

Three ran and won in Weehawken - Richard Barsa, Paul
Salandra and Joseph Rutigliano.

School tax levies failed to pass in Hoboken, North Bergen
and Guttenberg. Those levies, which represent how much local
taxpayers have to pitch in for their schools, now go to the
governing bodies of those municipalities for adjustment. But
the state Department of Education has the final say.